I am married to Andretta M. Manning and the proud father of Ashley and Eric II.

I am thankful for God giving me the opportunity to serve in His vineyard and the Mother Emanuel AMEC Community.  I serve God and His children with a grateful heart.  “Gratitude says to faith, ‘Keep trusting your Father for more grace; I know He will supply.’  Gratitude does help motivate the radical obedience of love, but it does so indirectly through the service of faith in future grace.” “A person of faith, grounded in a life of prayer and study is self-aware in seeing the larger picture, proclaiming hope, leading courageously, and setting healthy boundaries”. Love for humanity must be at the center of our relationships, there must be a period of listening to one another, and if the situation requires it, a season of repentance.  We also must be willing to meet one another on the basis of our collective humanity.  We must work on building relationships and understanding that there is more that unites us than divides us.  If we cannot learn to love each other now, I do not believe that we will inherit eternal life. We must continue to turn away from the darkness of sin and embrace the light and love of Christ.  

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:7-11).